The present invention relates to an arrangement for the intermediate deposit of workpieces in idling stage areas of transfer presses, with gripping and holding devices arranged in the idling stage areas for templates guided into tool spaces of the transfer press together with the sliding tables by way of holding means, and with template supports provided at the gripping and holding devices which are adjustable horizontally toward and away from the sliding tables by way of a motorized drive.
In gang presses, large-part gang presses and similar transfer presses, in which larger workpieces are worked on in stages arranged one after the other, so-called idling stages are present between the press support columns. No deformation takes place in these idling stages. As a consequence of the fixedly resting transfer movement for the workpieces, the idling stages must include an intermediate deposit, whose top side corresponds to the shape of the bottom side of the workpiece in the support areas. With every tool change, intermediate deposits have to be installed which are matched to the new workpiece.
An arrangement for the intermediate deposit of workpieces in idling stages of transfer presses is shown and described in the DE-PS 33 34 021. The arrangement consists of a gripping and holding device arranged within the area of an idling stage. With the aid of toothed racks which are attached at the gripping and holding device, are movable in the transfer direction and are constructed as grippers, templates displaceable together with the sliding table can be seized and transferred into the area of the idling stage. The templates are seized by rotatable anchors at the grippers which for that purpose engage bayonet-like through openings in the template. During the exchange of the sliding tables, the templates are retained at the sliding tables by way of bolt-aperture guidances and holding magnets. This type of the suspension of the templates at the sliding tables is favorable as regards costs; however, it entails the danger of an inexperienced handling of the templates.
In contrast thereto, the object of the present invention resides in the accurate guidance of the template during the decoupling from the sliding table or tool, the dimensionally accurate placement of the template into the idling stage and the fittingly accurate attachment of the template at the sliding table or at the tool during the tool change as also the avoidance of the manual involvement of a person not familiar with the expert handling of the templates.
The underlying problems are solved according to the present invention in that the templates are provided with rotatably supported mounting bushings into which the mounting bolts are adapted to be inserted, in that the holding means are bored out for the mounting of mounting bushings and in that a first bayonet-like connection is provided between the mounting bushing and the mounting bolt and a second bayonet-like connection is provided between the holding means and the mounting bushing, whereby the bayonet-like connections are adapted to be activated one after the other in such a manner that the bayonet-like connection between the mounting bushing and the mounting bolt becomes effective prior in time to the bayonet-like connection between the holding means and the mounting bushing when the mounting bolt is guided into the mounting bushing for taking over the template.
Advantages of the present invention follow from the safe handling of the templates during tool change. The detachment of the template from the sliding table or from the tool takes place in the manner according to the present invention by a single rotary movement after moving the template support toward the sliding table, in the course of which the template is fixed at the grippers by the locking of the bayonet-like arrangement by means at the mounting bolt and at the mounting bushing and is detached from the sliding table, respectively, the tool, by the opening of the connection of the bayonet-like arrangement by means at the mounting bushing and at the holding means of the sliding table. The detachment from the sliding table takes place thereby only when the template has been coupled safely at the grippers. The docking of the template at the sliding table takes place in a reverse sequence also by only a single rotary movement for the coupling at the sliding table, respectively, at the tool and the decoupling from the gripper which takes place later in time. The accurately fitting components and the time-delayed sequence of the coupling/uncoupling enables a fully automatic change operation carried out by and monitored by the press control. The automatic undesired adjustment of the stopped coupling Position of the mounting bolt and of the mounting bushing is prevented. The multi-partite arrangement of the template enables the use of more light-weight materials.